Each year my school and I have to renew my Resident Permit and Foreign Expert Certificate. It takes about 2 weeks. We do it in China. When I get to the school in August, I am on a L-Visa (Tourist). At the end of the 2 weeks I have my Z-Visa, my RP and FEC.

They don't ask me to teach, but I am in the school a week before schools start to get the paper work started. My class's start once the paperwork is done. My monthly paycheck starts from the first day I get to the school however.

The paper work is done faster, and done locally, so the school can check up on it and if need be use some personal connections ( they way Chinese people like to do things ). For most schools,I would think, there is no plan to do things illegally.

I would caution, you have to trust the school a lot on this. I had reliable, personal info about this job, so I didn't feel I was taking a risk, but I still had enough for airfare home.

But, If you are new, you should know that without 2 years teaching experience, you can't get a FOE, no matter what your school says. This is an old rule/law, but it is being strongly enforced now. Obviously teachers with Education/Language BA's, or Teaching degree's wont need the 2 years experience.